Here’s a story, of a Russian mobby…

With “Red Heat” giving us more biffo than backstory, good to hear Hollywood’s finally ready to tell the origin yarn of the Russian mob – Ed O’Ross or no Ed O’Ross.

Deadline says WB is prepping “Vor V Zakone”, which traces the origins of organized crime in ‘original World War Z-ending’ terrain, with Andrew Sodroski onboard to pen.

“Vor V Zakone”, according to Nikki and co, translates to “Thief In Law, which refers to a professional criminal who holds elite status among other law breakers. This traces back to the Russian Revolution of 1917, where Stalin attempted to exterminate the criminal underworld and filled the gulags with bandits and thugs of every stripe. Rather than weed them out, that effort united them and created a heirarchy that continues to this day, with soldiers wearing their rank in the form of tattoos bestowed by leaders from prison. The narrative thru line here is how one man, a leader of the Vor V Zakone, rose to become the very person his brethren swore never to serve: the Tsar himself”.

Sodroski is one of the new up-and-coming screenwriter dudes in Hollywood; he recently sold “Holland”, a script being transferred into a vehicle for Naomi Watts, with Errol Morris directing.